Did Scott Pruitt's EPA Lie About Death Threats Against Him?

The president doesn't believe in the concept of truth in the public discourse. Anything is true if enough people believe it. Apparently, his cabinet secretaries agree. We have a new frontrunner for America's Next Top Swampmonster in the form of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who apparently felt entitled to live like an oligarch on the taxpayer dime. One of his big excuses for that appears to be falling apart.

Set aside, for the moment, that Pruitt had a sweetheart deal to live at a Washington lobbyist's apartment for just $50 a night, for which he still fell behind on payments. Pruitt seemed determined to be the captain of this administration's Blue Angels, spending ungodly sums in taxpayer money on first-class and private flights. He's also already spent $3 million on security, including over $800,000 in just his first three months on the job:

His reason for the exclusive travel arrangements, and round-the-clock security detail comprised of at least 18 agents, was that he faces unprecedented danger for an EPA chief. Specifically, EPA spokespeople have repeatedly claimed that Pruitt receives a huge number of death threats. This has been shared widely by media outlets friendly to the administration:

It was also trumpeted in a presidential tweet this weekend that sought to defend Pruitt amid an avalanche of scandal:

While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!

Pruitt's arrangement was not "market rate" for its prime Capitol Hill location, perhaps because the lobbyist offering it represented energy interests with projects that needed—and received—EPA approval. The president did not even bother explaining why "travel expenses OK."

But we're now learning that even the first excuse might not pass muster. If Pruitt is receiving a huge number of death threats, that would justify ramped up security. (Pruitt's contention this also justifies first-class travel at all times isn't so clear cut.) Except when BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EPA asking for records of the threats, the agency could not produce a single one:

Houston, we have a problem. Buzzfeed’s @JasonLeopold submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EPA for records of any death threats against Pruitt and was told there were zero records. https://t.co/X5gg7rT1Dg

The administrator gets an "unprecedented" number of threats against his life, but the agency cannot produce confirmation of a single one? Are we to believe the organization does not keep records of death threats against the head of the organization, or that they simply won't supply them? And not a single person has been charged nationwide for making death threats to a cabinet secretary? Or is the more likely explanation, as things stand, that officials simply started saying there were a ton of threats to try to escape the spending scandals?

(Another report form E&E News suggests "threats against the agency have mounted over the past year, including against its administrator," but does not provide any examples of death threats against Pruitt. It seems unlikely that a credible threat was made against the head of a federal agency and no charges were filed.)

As a prominent conservative lawyer put it in a damning report in The New York Timeslast week, Pruitt "wanted to be treated like he was the president." That included the huge travel expenses, the large-scale security detail, the top-notch digs in the exclusive heart of Washignton, D.C. It even included Pruitt's demands to use lights and sirens on his government vehicle—like a presidential motorcade—to stop traffic on his way to swanky D.C. restaurants.

As a true Trumpist, Pruitt believes he is above the law and that the Treasury can be looted for whatever needs he has. Even more than that, though, he feels he can just say anything and get away with it. If Pruitt or his agency have records of the threats supposedly made against him, they must produce them immediately. Otherwise, it's not difficult to decide who's telling the truth.

Fabricating death threats to justify your lavish taxpayer-funded lifestyle might be a new low for this administration—until someone in Trump's orbit tries to match it.

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